jburkett84
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Re: Freshwater is full, but might as well be empty....?!?!
CavemanCharlie wrote: jburkett84 wrote: CavemanCharlie wrote: jburkett84 wrote: ALRIGHT ... SO I KNOW EVERYONE HAS BEEN ON THE EDGE OF THEIR SEATS... Here's what I know ... I'm now pulling water from the tank. I turned my water connection off, have my pump on and water is flowing out of all the faucets, toilet, etc. Here's all I did ... Put a space heater near the water pump to circulate the heat around the pump What was the problem ... Well I don't know. Something was frozen. I don't know if it was the pump, the pipes, what...but something was frozen. And the resolution was as simple as placing the space heater in front of the pump (after removing the panel) and getting some heat to it. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED ME RESOLVE THIS HICCUP! Be safe and see you on the road! That's a different pump then I have and it's hard to tell in the picture. But, is there a filter/screen in the line right before the pump? If so I bet that was your culprit. There is a screen right before the pump, it's on the backside, you've almost got to have your head in the cabinet to see it. I'm it was definitely something simple such as that...screen, filter, tubing. Hopefully this thread can help others in the future too! That's what I was thinking. We have them in some farm applications. That is a really fine mesh screen under that little cap. It would not take much to plug it. When you know your going camping in this cold of weather maybe you could remove the screen. If you keep your tank clean and sanitized it's kinda overkill anyway. If you still feel the need to filter the water maybe you could put one of those Brita Filters on your kitchen faucet. I will look when we get to Texas as how easy (or not) it would be for me to reach and remove that screen, although, I hope we will never have to camp in this cold weather again. We are heading to Texas tomorrow morning, so tonight I'm going to leave the doors to the closet (which is above and in the same cabinet space as the pump) open and run my heat a bit higher (since it's supposed to drop to 17 degrees) and keep the space heater circulating back there too. We need that pump to be working for sure tomorrow and Friday while driving! Although, I'm sure it will warm up once we get outta this region and would thaw on its own, minor risking it!395Views0likes0CommentsRe: Winter camping
1buda wrote: Dumb question. We plan on camping on Thanksgiving weekend. What keeps the city water hose from freezing up at the camp site? I'm in central Ohio right now, and just a heads up...it's cold. I've got our hose wrapped in aluminum tape insulation, then have the heat tape (mentioned already on this tread) wrapped throughout the hose, taped every so often, then I have the hose wrapped in the foam pipe insulation, duct tape on the seams. If you're only going to be a short while, I'd suggest just filling your tank and taking it easy on your water consumption. Otherwise, depending on where you are in Ohio, you might be able to get away with just spending $10 on foam pipe insulation at the hardware store and crossing your fingers. Hope this helps!514Views0likes0CommentsRe: Freshwater is full, but might as well be empty....?!?!
CavemanCharlie wrote: jburkett84 wrote: ALRIGHT ... SO I KNOW EVERYONE HAS BEEN ON THE EDGE OF THEIR SEATS... Here's what I know ... I'm now pulling water from the tank. I turned my water connection off, have my pump on and water is flowing out of all the faucets, toilet, etc. Here's all I did ... Put a space heater near the water pump to circulate the heat around the pump What was the problem ... Well I don't know. Something was frozen. I don't know if it was the pump, the pipes, what...but something was frozen. And the resolution was as simple as placing the space heater in front of the pump (after removing the panel) and getting some heat to it. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED ME RESOLVE THIS HICCUP! Be safe and see you on the road! That's a different pump then I have and it's hard to tell in the picture. But, is there a filter/screen in the line right before the pump? If so I bet that was your culprit. There is a screen right before the pump, it's on the backside, you've almost got to have your head in the cabinet to see it. I'm it was definitely something simple such as that...screen, filter, tubing. Hopefully this thread can help others in the future too!394Views0likes0CommentsRe: Freshwater is full, but might as well be empty....?!?!
wmoses wrote: Good to hear you resolved the issue. I am expecting cold temps tonight and my pump is in an unheated compartment under my bed. Temps in the RV will be around 60 deg.F with the furnace and electric heater on but there will be no space heater in the pump compartment. Last night it was not expected to get to freezing so I did not disconnect the water hose but left the kitchen faucet dripping just in case. Tonight I will likely disconnect the water hose and use the on-board FW and pump. Will report back if there is a freeze up. Good luck! This was just a reminder to me that Mother Nature is boss, and we can only do so much to prepare for "the worst" ... Hopefully you come out of it without any frozen pipes!394Views0likes0CommentsRe: Freshwater is full, but might as well be empty....?!?!
ALRIGHT ... SO I KNOW EVERYONE HAS BEEN ON THE EDGE OF THEIR SEATS... Here's what I know ... I'm now pulling water from the tank. I turned my water connection off, have my pump on and water is flowing out of all the faucets, toilet, etc. Here's all I did ... Put a space heater near the water pump to circulate the heat around the pump What was the problem ... Well I don't know. Something was frozen. I don't know if it was the pump, the pipes, what...but something was frozen. And the resolution was as simple as placing the space heater in front of the pump (after removing the panel) and getting some heat to it. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED ME RESOLVE THIS HICCUP! Be safe and see you on the road!267Views0likes0CommentsRe: Freshwater is full, but might as well be empty....?!?!
Uually wrote: Had a simular problem this summer,because of the summer heat the suction line bent causing a kink in the line at the floor of the trailer. Had to support the lines to prevent kinking, problem solved. hope this helps. Okay, this is interesting ... I don't THINK I have this problem, but one of the lines (if you use the link I provided in a previous post) in the bottom right side of the picture is pushed against the floor and pretty stiff because of the cold ... now this line just goes to nothing and is open, but it might not be the suction line, it could be the line some others have mentioned can pull antifreeze right from the bottle. IN OTHER WORDS, I don't know what that line does.268Views0likes0CommentsRe: Freshwater is full, but might as well be empty....?!?!
AirForceAngler wrote: Does the pump have a "winterizing" bypass kit on it? With a valve that lets you pull antifreeze right from a bottle instead of the tank? Could be that this valve is in the wrong position and is pulling air instead of water from the tank. I would say no, ONLY BECAUSE, I've pulled water from the tank before with no issue, or switching of valves. HOWEVER, it's good to know this is an option, in the event the pump has to be replaced.267Views0likes0CommentsRe: Freshwater is full, but might as well be empty....?!?!
Old-Biscuit wrote: My pump is under the kitchen sink cabinet directly over the fresh water tank. The pump suction line to tank is about 2 1/2' long. I also have an enclosed underbelly which is heated via a duct directly off furnace. The furnace air return is a slatted door right next to pump. And yet......the suction line frozen one time in cold weather. Granted it was really cold (-14*F) but the trailer inside temp was 68*F and nothing else froze. Fortunately there was a furnace duct under that cabinet that feed a round register on livingroom side of cabinet. So I removed duct from register and directed it down towards top of fresh water tank and pump suction line. About an hour later pump was flowing water. It's amazing that with all the heat and air circulation that the suction line froze. If easily accessible...disconnect suction line at pump and try to suck water thru it. If you can't suck water thru the line then get some heat on it. WOW! -14*F, you are a braver soul than I! Our pump is located under the closet space in the rear of the camper, it got down to 12 (w/ the wind chill) here the other night, and did get to around 65 in the camper ... so there is no telling how cold it got in the compartment with the pump. When I first took the panel off for the pump and felt the pipes and pump, they were C-O-L-D, it's hard to say if they were "frozen" cold, but they were cold. Which is why I'm hoping the space heater will help them out a bit right now, before I begin pulling pipes off. Either way, I'll be sure to let you know when it's fixed and what it was that repaired it.267Views0likes0CommentsRe: Freshwater is full, but might as well be empty....?!?!
opnspaces wrote: Well you'll know for certain when you get to Texas. :B Ok I know htat wasn't much help. here's my thoughts. Make sure the pump is turned off when towing or leaving the trailer for any length of time. If it is a frozen line and it's split, you don't want the water pump to pump a tank full of water into the trailer. Do you have one of those halogen work lights that you can put under the trailer near where the pump is and see if you can get some external heat in the underbelly? Don't get it so close that you melt the plastic belly though. Are there any access panels to help you find the connection between the tank and the pickup hose? definitely do as you are and leave the cabinets open to allow heat to warm all parts of the trailer. Try turning off city water and opening a faucet to drain pressure. Then pull the pickup hose off the pump and see if it drains back into the tank. Maybe run the pump and see if there is suction where the hose connects. HA! Well played! Just another reason, I'll be happy to get to Texas. I don't have one of those work lamps, but I'm going to Home Depot this afternoon, and will pick one up. I can't see any panels (that don't look near permanent) that would show any connections from the underside and from inside (behind the panel) I don't see anything either, looks like everything goes below the flooring and connects to the tanks there, nothing with easy access : ( I tried to add an image via photobucket (username: fwa10415), not the best photo, but should help describe what I'm talking about. I think I'm going to give it just a bit longer, before I start pulling hoses off the pump. If my "better half" (as I call her when she's not around) comes in and sees hoses off, panels removed ... this might be my first and final thread :B267Views0likes0Comments
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